Love on the Rocks
by writewithurheart
Summary: Another Lexie Grey could have met Mark Sloan, this time in New York City after her undergrad graduation.


_Hello! This is just a little something I wrote in the midst of a Grey's Anatomy rewatch, as I was missing my favorite characters. I have more but this also works as a standalone. I hope you like it!_

 **...**

 **Love on the Rocks**

…

It was graduation, graduation from _Harvard_. It was worth celebrating.

It was even worth the cost of the trip to New York and the hotel room. Sure, it was two years late, and her best friend had bailed on her week-long trip in favor of a cruise in the Caribbean with her boyfriend before they started their third year of Med School, but still. She was having fun.

That's what Alexandra Grey told herself as she picked at the cherry at the bottom of her drink.

Drinking alone at a bar in the middle of a city she doesn't know doesn't exactly speak to happiness. She should have found someone else to drag along with her. Brad. Brad would have been a lot of fun. And that's true. Except he had a huge crush on her that she didn't reciprocate, which would have made things awkward. So maybe not Brad.

She chews on the stem of the cherry as she stares blankly at the wooden bar. She could have opted for a flashy club a couple blocks over. Heck, that had been her original destination, but no. She'd stumbled on this hole-in-the-wall joint instead. And it seemed to fit her mood better.

The warm tones, the friendly conversations, the dart game in the corner…it feels comfortable, safe, like she won't spend all night trying to skillfully deflect handsy guys who thought they stood a chance. She wasn't looking for someone to buy her a drink and take her home. She came here to wallow.

Let the wallowing commence!

"You're far too pretty to look so sad."

Cherry stem still sticking out of her mouth, Lexie turns to her left, ready to tell the douche hitting on her to get lost. Except he's gorgeous. That's the problem. His blue eyes chase the words from her throat and her heart races.

He's tall, muscular and fills out his leather jacket to perfection. He has a tumbler of whiskey and a smile that he probably uses to get in girls' pants. Based on his face, it probably does.

Aware her mouth is open in shock, Lexie shakes her head to restart her thoughts. "Um…thanks?"

He's got a breathy chuckle. "Maybe a new drink will help you feel better."

"Does that line ever work?" She asks, mostly out of curiosity. She'll take the drink if he's offering. Mostly, she wants to wallow, but if a handsome man's flirting, she'll flirt back.

His grin is infectious. Lexie could stare at a grin like that for hours. "Occasionally. Mostly the fact that I'm an amazing surgeon does all the work."

"Oh, yeah? I like how you slipped that in there, like it's supposed to impress me." It does. It really does. As someone going into med school with that exact dream, she's very interested in what he does. And in proving him wrong if he is just using it as a line to pick up chicks. "What kind of surgeon?"

If possible, his smile widens even further. "I save lives."

She turns to face him head on. He's dodging the question. "So what? You're a cardiothoracic surgeon? A neurosurgeon?"

He makes a face at the second option and immediately shakes his head. "No. Neurosurgeons are tools. I should know. My best friend is one." He looks at her, really looks at her for a moment. "You don't believe me."

Lexie laughs and swirls her straw around the ice left in her cup. "You still haven't told me what kind of surgery you do. For all I know, you could be lying. I've met lots of 'doctors' in bars. Most of them with imaginary PhDs."

"I'm in plastics." He stares at her, waiting for her reaction.

Lexie raises an eyebrow. "And how do boob and butt jobs save lives?"

He looks insulted. "I do more than just boobs and butts, thank you very much. I also fix clef pallets, do reconstructive surgery, help burn victims. My work helps people lead normal lives. I've restored people's hearing."

She holds her hands up at his defensive tone. "Okay, okay. Plastics is just as great as neuro."

"Damn straight," he says gruffly, turning back to the bar and gesturing to the man behind it. A moment later two more drinks are placed in front of him and he slides a glass over. "Mark Sloan."

She stares at his hand. Lexie hasn't decided if she still wants to continue this little encounter. The surgeon thing is cool, but the man himself…She purses her lips as she looks him over before slipping her hand into his. "Alexandra Grey. Lexie."

"Nice to meet you, Lexie."

And there's that smile that could melt hearts. It's a smile that must get him into trouble sometimes. "Is this the part where you ask if I come here often?"

He grins. "Well, it does seem like I'm at a disadvantage. You know what I do for a living and I know nothing about you."

Lexie laughs. "I graduated a couple years ago." He shifts uncomfortably and she sees the question in his eyes. "College. I start my third year of med school in a month." She takes a long sip from the cup in front of her.

She watches for his reaction.

"Really? What's your focus?"

Lexie can't meet his eyes as she sheepishly brushes a strand of hair behind her ear. "Actually, I want to be a surgeon."

He pauses with the glass halfway to his lips. "Not a neuro surgeon, I hope."

She grins up at him. "I don't know yet. I just want to save lives."

"Cardio?"

"Oh, God no. I mean, that's cool, but nope. No way I could do open heart surgery. That's crazy."

The warm buzz of alcohol loosens her tongue and soon she's laughing more than she has in the last two months. He might be trying to get in her pants, but Mark is funny and charming, and Lexie wants to be charmed. She didn't think she wanted company tonight. Turns out she was wrong.

Only when Mark brushes her hair back behind her ear does she realize how much she's leaning into him. She stares up at him, her lips parted in surprise. The alcohol in her system leaves her with a pleasant buzz. Or maybe it's the way his hand lingers on her cheek.

The blue in his eyes suck her in as his hand moves to cup the back of her neck. The kiss he lays on her is all-consuming. How he manages to kiss with his whole body, she doesn't know. It's not just his lips moving against hers. It's how his hands shape to her face, how his fingers thread into his hair, how he leans in.

Which is why she doesn't think twice before she lets him take her home.

It turns out to be a great idea, because the sex is phenomenal.

"Are you serious right now, Lex?!"

Lexie winces at Molly's scream through the phone, pulling it away from her ear as she walks out of her first class of med school.

"You shacked up with a guy for an entire WEEK?"

Yeah, okay, so maybe telling her sister over the phone wasn't such a brilliant idea, but how do you tell your little sister you stayed with a stranger for a week because the sex was just that mind boggling. And not just the sex. There was also talking.

And then there was that day he let her watch a surgery.

Basically it was the best vacation ever, even if he was just showing off.

"Well? What's his name? Who is he? What's he like? Was it the best sex ever or what?"

"Molly!" Lexie cries, looking around as if anyone else would have heard her sister's crass words.

"Oh, come on! Why else would you spend your vacation in some other guy's hotel room?"

Lexie chews on her bottom lip. "Actually, it wasn't a hotel room." She can hear the demanding question in her sister's silence. "It was his apartment."

"ALEXANDRA GREY! You SLUT!" Molly squeals gleefully. "You slept with a guy so you wouldn't have to pay for a hotel room!"

"What? No!" Lexie grimaces because she actually _has_ done that before, but also because she ended only paying one night for the hotel anyway. "It wasn't like that."

"Really?"

If Molly was here, Lexie would be getting her no-nonsense glare.

Lexie drops onto a bench. "Fine. It was sort of like that. But I hadn't planned on sleeping with anyone that first night. But he was funny and kind. And he's a surgeon, Mol, _a surgeon._ Like, honest to goodness, we talked about the coolest surgery he'd even done and he was using all these medical terms. And he's a really good kisser, like fantastic, and the sex!"

Molly sighs dreamily. "God, sounds fantastic. Does he have any hot doctor friends?"

"That's the problem," Lexie sighs, happy mood evaporating. "Turns out he broke up his best friends' marriage by sleeping with his wife."

"Oh! Lexie!"

"Yeah, I know, I know. But the sex, Mol? The sex was worth it." She grins. "I even got to watch him perform surgery, which is _hot_. Way hotter than it has any right to be."

"So when are you seeing him again?" Molly asks.

Lexie snorts. "Probably never?"

"What! Why not?"

Lexie gazes across the Harvard campus at the trees whose leaves are just starting to gently change color. Back home in Seattle, it's probably raining because when isn't it. She knows she's probably never going to see Mark Sloan again. He's a renowned plastic surgeon, and a man whore by his own declaration. She hadn't gone into that week with him blind. Heck, they hadn't even exchanged numbers.

"Because it was a fling, Mol. It was hot sex with a complete stranger. I need it after the whole thing with Ed." Lexie narrows her eyes at her ex where he jokes around with his friends. Turns out what she thought was a nice, nerdy boyfriend, was in fact an ass who liked to talk about their sex lives to his friends and copy off her homework.

"But a _week_ of great sex? I could understand a weekend, Lex, but a _week_? And you just let him go?"

Lexie picks up her textbook and stands. "Yes. And that's it. End of story. I have a medical degree to focus on. Two more years and then I'll get in internship and then a residency. I don't have time for a boyfriend. Or fuck buddy or whatever. Can we talk later? I have class in five minutes across campus."

"Fine. But don't think we're done here," Molly says.

"Goodbye!" Lexie laughs, shaking her head as she starts across the quad. She has a medical career to kick off and a doctorate to earn. Molly's happily in love with her military man husband, but that's not what Lexie wants. Maybe one day, but not now.

Now the focus is on school.

…


End file.
